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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 120 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  2. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  9. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  14. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  17. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  18. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  19. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  24. The water is too ________________.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. bear — the animal
  2. fork — a garden tool
  3. capital — a city
  4. file — a document
  5. file — a line of people
  6. cold — an illness
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. bear — the animal
  9. bowl — to roll
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. foot — a measure
  12. chest — of your body
  13. bear — to put up with
  14. bowl — a dish
  15. chest — of your body
  16. fork — to eat with
  17. foot — part of the body
  18. foot — the bottom
  19. bowl — a football final
  20. file — a tool
  21. chest — a box
  22. capital — money
  23. fork — in a road
  24. cold — not warm

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com